December 2009

When I set out on the literally breathtaking climb up Uluru one morning in May, 1986, it was, I recall, 2 degrees Celsius. Most Australians who venture into the Outback in the southern autumn-winter don't realise how cold the entire Australian inland gets.

"We're supposed to be in the middle of the desert, but it's f****** freezing!" a skinny white Pom exclaimed to me as we set out to scale Uluru's near-vertical face that morning, inching our way up along the chain rope designed to provide stability for the tiny humans attempting to climb the monolith.

Of the 310,000-odd visitors to the Red Centre each year, most - about 170,000 - are, in fact, foreign visitors and only a minority these days actually climb the rock following a statement by some of the local Anangu elders about 20 years ago that they'd prefer that people didn't.

Qantas is in the process of reinventing itself, if you believe the company's own hype. It has spent millions on a customer service training centre in Sydney; at least on domestic routes to begin with, it is in the process of redefining the customer check-in experience to radically reduce the time it takes..

It sees the main brand as a premium carrier, complemented by Jetstar as a cheap alternative, with the group able to offer something for each part of the market.

But, particularly for long-haul travel, I'm wondering whether the Qantas group has already lost the battle for Australian hearts and minds.

Clive Dorman is one of Australia’s most experienced travel journalists. Every week for 17 years his column Travellers’ Check dealt with travel consumer issues. His weekly column now returns online looking at travel intelligence: where the value is, what to do, using the collective information-gathering of you.

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